Baking with yeast water

Yeast.
You find it everywhere, even in the air.
That’s one of the reasons why your mixture of flour and water eventually turns into a bubbling sourdough starter.
The other reason is called lactic bacteria.
We want them both in our sourdough starter so we can bake those incredible pieces of bread with lots of volumes and taste.

This time, however, we will go primarily after the yeast microbes.
We are going to make yeast water.
And it’s easier than you might think.

ALL FRUITS ARE SUITABLE, SORT OFF

I have already written a post about yeast water made from raisins. Raisins work great. I don’t think I have failed once. I’m not exaggerating, it is that easy to make yeast water.
Grapes and figs are also good choices, but what about apples?

All fruits and vegetables are covered with yeast microbes, which means you can make yeast water from them.
But all yeast water is not suitable to bake bread with it.
I have heard stories about people who have tried yeast water from pineapple and lemons, with mixed result.
But what about apples?

There is only one way to find out, and that is to give it a try.
So I took an apple and cut it into pieces, about half an inch in size, and put them in a glass jar.
I filled up with water, closed the lid, and placed the jar in a warm place.
I shook the jar once a day, and after two days, there was a visible fermentation process going on.

FIRST PRE-FERMENT

Now it was time to mix the first pre-ferment.
I decided to go for hydration of 66%, but you can experiment with whatever you prefer.
Why 66%?
Well, it gives me a quite stiff starter that gives me more room for maneuver when it comes to time.
Higher hydration will give you a quicker fermenting process, but it will also become over fermented quicker.
Note that you are only using the yeast water, not any additional water.
So in my case, I took 66 grams of yeast water and mixed it with 100 grams of wheat flour.
I left it to ferment at room temperature for about 8 hours.
As said before, you can speed up the process by increasing the hydration in combination with a warmer ambient temperature.

REFRESHING

After 8 hours, the dough had doubled in size.
It was time to refresh it.
I mixed it with 100 grams of wheat flour and 66 grams of water.
Plain tap water this time.
Then it was allowed to ferment for an additional 8 hours.
You can also place it in the refrigerator if you are planning to bake a couple of days later.
A stiff dough like this can take 2-3 days without any problems.

MIXING A LEVAIN

Now you have something that can be compared to a very stiff sourdough starter.
Before it’s time to bake you just mix it with flour and water into a levain, just the way you would have done if you were using a traditional starter.
I chose to continue with 100 grams of flour and 66 grams of water, mixed with 100 grams of fermented dough.
8 hours later, I had a lively levain.

Is it not possible to mix levain directly, with flour and yeast water, and skip all the refreshing?
Yes, of course, it is. However, you may experience that the first mix with yeast water and flour can feel somewhat weak.
You will build up strength by refreshing it at least once.
Besides, it will remove any taste or sweetness from the fruit you are using.
I’m not claiming that a levain with a hint of apple is necessarily wrong, but perhaps nothing you want in a baguette for example.

As I mentioned before, you can use the levain for any kind of bread the way you are used to.
I have included two recipes, just to give you some ideas. They are not as detailed as my recipes use to be, so use them as guidelines.

But before I continue, I think it’s a good idea to recapitulate what I have said about yeast water.

SUMMERY

• Cut 200 grams of apple into cubes. Place in food proof container and add 400 grams of water.
• Let it sit at room temperature for at least 2 days, or until you can see small bubbles among the apple pieces.
• Make the first preferment by mixing 66grams of yeast water with 100grams of flour. Let it ferment until it has doubled in size.
• Refresh the pre-ferment with 100 grams of flour and 66 grams of plain water.
• Make a levain by mixing 100 grams of pre-ferment with 100 grams of flour and 66 grams of water.

If you want to change the hydration, feel free to do so. Just remember to adjust the amount of water in the final dough.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE REST

What shall you do with the remaining yeast water and pre-ferment?
You can keep the yeast water in the refrigerator for at least 4 weeks, probably longer.
The remaining pre-ferment can also be kept in the fridge. Refresh it with water and flour twice a week, and you don’t have to start all over again.
Finally, lactic bacteria will enter the scene and turn it into a sourdough starter. When that happens, you can start a new pre-ferment with the yeast water you have in the fridge.

BASIC BREAD

For this bread, I have used the following ingredients.

• 300 grams of wheat flour, 11.5% protein content.
• 220 grams of water
• 200 grams of levain made of yeast water.
• 8 grams of salt

The hydration of the dough is approximately 71%.

METHOD

I mixed the flour and water and let it autolyze for an hour. 

After the autolyze, I added salt and levain and kneaded the dough to incorporate it. To build up strength, I used the Rubaud method, followed by two sets of stretch and fold.

The total time for bulk fermentation was 5 hours. 

I shaped the dough into a boule. It was allowed to proof for 1 hour in room temperature before I baked it at 480ºF/250ºC in a dutch oven for 45 minutes. The lid was removed after 15 minutes. I also lowered the temperature to 420ºF/220ºC.

This is a quite basic, but very versatile bread. You can enjoy it for breakfast or to a nice dinner. It has all the qualities of sourdough bread, except the acidity. That doesn’t mean it lacks taste. You can find other flavors that don’t have to compete with the sour taste from the sourdough starter.

SANDWICH BREAD

For this bread, I have used the following ingredients.

• 400 grams of wheat flour, 11.5% protein content.
• 300 grams of water
• 250 grams of levain made of yeast water.
• 30 grams of butter
• 30 grams of cheese cut in small cubes.
• 11 grams of salt

METHOD

I mixed the flour and water and let it autolyze for an hour.
After the autolyze, I added salt and levain and kneaded the dough to incorporate it. After that, I added the butter and kneaded it into the dough. Finally, I added the cheese and mixed it with the dough.
After 15 minutes rest, I made a set of stretch and fold. This was repeated 3 times during bulk fermentation that was 5 hours long in room temperature.
The dough was divided into four pieces and formed into rounds that were fitted into a greased bread tin.

I let it proof for 1.5 hours in room temperature.
After I had brushed the loaf with egg wash, it was baked for 40 minutes at 480ºF/250ºC. You may have to lower the temperature at the end.

I hope I have given you some inspiration in this post. Baking with yeast water is very rewarding, especially for beginners. Making yeast water is easier than making a new sourdough starter, and you don’t have to feed it between your baking sessions.
The taste will be slightly different, but diversity is good.
Especially when it comes to baking bread.